Caring for elderly becomes necessary when they reach the stage in their lives wherein they are physically unable to care for their own bodies or other daily needs. This task is a physically and emotionally difficult one for the one assigned to do the care giving. Hence, this explains why there are several caregiving stations wherein people are paid to care of aging and elderly individuals. But if you are capable of extending that service to any elderly in the family, whether relatives or your parents, then you need to take that responsibility as a way of showing your genuine care and affection for these older folks in the family.
Difficult as the task may seem, proper knowledge of effective caregiving methods would help provide a more convenient and healthy life for your elderly family members. The best way to get started on an effective care giving procedure is to learn as much as you can about how to effectively do it. After all, having the care of another human being in your hands is a huge responsibility.
Essentials in Caring for Elderly
Having difficulty coping with the responsibility of caring for an elderly? Here are a few tips to help you cope with the challenges and make life more convenient for you as a carer and for the elder you are caring for:
• Since you have your own personal life to live, you need to practice proper time management. This will help ensure that you take care of the elder's needs while also having enough time to relax or enjoy yourself.
• Look for other available care alternatives that will offer the kind of caring needs that your elder needs.
• Don't take on this responsibility alone. Seek the help of your other family members, children, relatives, or neighbors, especially if you encounter any difficulty in providing care.
• Assign someone to replace your spot in caring, whether it be your husband, your brother or sister, or other relatives. This should allow you to rest and ensure that you have enough strength and vitality to provide the utmost care your elder needs.
• Take care of your health. A huge data of caregivers are known to have higher possibilities of acquiring illness while caring for others. If you do become ill, who will take care of the elder in the family?
• If you are not directly the carer of elders but know someone in the family who is, extend help to them as much as you can. Whether it be preparing meals, or performing errands for them, it can help reduce the burden if having to take care of the elderly.
Medical and Non-Medical Type of Care
Most elder people encounter various types of illness as they age. However, there are also non-medical needs involved in caring for older people that you need to give attention to. They are classified as follows:
Medical Care
These are types of caring services that involve the care, monitoring, and cure of certain illnesses experienced by older individuals.
• home healthcare
• personal care, such as bathing, grooming, or toileting
• rehabilitation services such as physical therapy
• house calls or attending to visiting physicians
• meal preparation
• administering medicines
• home and safety monitoring for in-home elderly care
Non-medical Care
These are entailing services or care that is involved with ensuring that all physical and other needs of the elderly individual are taken care of.
• home care maintenance
• financial planning
• insurance services
• transportation for shopping or other errands
• emergency transportation services
• house cleaning
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Caring For The Elderly-Understing Their Needs
As people reach a certain age range, they tend to produce limitations in their functions and capabilities. When they are unable to perform their regular duties, oftentimes assistance from someone else becomes necessary. If the need to require another person's physical assistance can be difficult for the elderly person, the same level of difficulty is expected with the person charged of taking care an elderly.
The best way to provide genuine care and assistance for an elder is to understand their needs. There might be unreasonable demands at some point, but it serves merely as an extension of their desire to realize goals that they still want to accomplish themselves. If you have been used to being independent, then you probably understand the feeling of not having control over what you can do and having to constantly depend on someone to realize certain tasks. It is therefore important that the caregiver for elders understand that to cater their services in such a way that it boosts an elder's confidence about their ability and to be more trusting of their carer.
What is Involved?
Aside from the physical and emotional difficulty involved in elderly care, it is a multi-faceted venture that involves both the medical and non-medical aspect entailed with caring for an aging parent or relative. To ensure that only quality care and service are provided for the elderly person, then the following items must be looked into and addressed:
• Providing an efficient and convenient living space and condition for the elderly, having taken into consideration their special needs.
• Finding reliable legal help and support.
• Dealing with the financial responsibilities of caring for an elder.
• Hiring nursing or caregiving care for additional caring assistance or when no one in the family is able to provide that service.
• Dealing with health issues that most aging people had to suffer.
• Keeping the elders active and live their remaining years to its fullest potential.
Challenges of Elderly Care
Having considered all the factors involved in elderly care, you are probably aware right now of its multi-facet nature that renders it a difficult task. Indeed, there is an enormous amount of responsibility involved that it is easy to neglect one while taking care of the other. On top of the upfront caring needs for an elderly individual is the arising issues of aging and declining health for these elders. If it is difficult to deal with for the person in care, more so with the elder themselves who are forced to deal with them.
If you are finding this challenge difficult and seemingly insurmountable, then keep in mind the following tips:
• Find a senior care support organization that will help provide professional advice and support for your elderly care.
• Make sure you get enough time off. Caring for an elder is a difficult responsibility that can drain much of your energy. Therefore, you should allow yourself to have a few breaks from these increasing demands.
• Seek the help of your other family members. You can gain more success with elderly care if everyone in the family is involved instead of you doing it alone.
About Dementia
Dementia is one of the more common conditions exhibited by elderly individuals, which is associated with diminishing amount of independence and inability to protect one's safety at home. There is a wide range of activities that it can affect that includes the most basic ones such as self-care, bathing, hygienic procedures, administering medications, meal preparation, lack of coordination, poor awareness of hazards in the environment, reduced communication skills, and so much more. These problems can either come in subtle or obvious forms, but nonetheless requires constant attention and immediate action.
Consulting a professional in the case of dementia is extremely important since some cases can potentially dangerous to the individual as to require proper medication.
Functional Limitations in Elderly
As soon as cases such as dementia begins to be exhibited by an aging individual, the functional limitations that are present in elderly persons require much attention to be geared towards taking care of them. This means that you need to keep a close eye on all of their daily activities, from the most basic to complex ones. This is to ensure that not only are their needs met, but also for their safety.
Hence, some people who are caring for elderly at home install safety adaptations in their home for the limited functions of these individuals. Thus, they still attain a certain level of independence without necessarily risking their safety.
The best way to provide genuine care and assistance for an elder is to understand their needs. There might be unreasonable demands at some point, but it serves merely as an extension of their desire to realize goals that they still want to accomplish themselves. If you have been used to being independent, then you probably understand the feeling of not having control over what you can do and having to constantly depend on someone to realize certain tasks. It is therefore important that the caregiver for elders understand that to cater their services in such a way that it boosts an elder's confidence about their ability and to be more trusting of their carer.
What is Involved?
Aside from the physical and emotional difficulty involved in elderly care, it is a multi-faceted venture that involves both the medical and non-medical aspect entailed with caring for an aging parent or relative. To ensure that only quality care and service are provided for the elderly person, then the following items must be looked into and addressed:
• Providing an efficient and convenient living space and condition for the elderly, having taken into consideration their special needs.
• Finding reliable legal help and support.
• Dealing with the financial responsibilities of caring for an elder.
• Hiring nursing or caregiving care for additional caring assistance or when no one in the family is able to provide that service.
• Dealing with health issues that most aging people had to suffer.
• Keeping the elders active and live their remaining years to its fullest potential.
Challenges of Elderly Care
Having considered all the factors involved in elderly care, you are probably aware right now of its multi-facet nature that renders it a difficult task. Indeed, there is an enormous amount of responsibility involved that it is easy to neglect one while taking care of the other. On top of the upfront caring needs for an elderly individual is the arising issues of aging and declining health for these elders. If it is difficult to deal with for the person in care, more so with the elder themselves who are forced to deal with them.
If you are finding this challenge difficult and seemingly insurmountable, then keep in mind the following tips:
• Find a senior care support organization that will help provide professional advice and support for your elderly care.
• Make sure you get enough time off. Caring for an elder is a difficult responsibility that can drain much of your energy. Therefore, you should allow yourself to have a few breaks from these increasing demands.
• Seek the help of your other family members. You can gain more success with elderly care if everyone in the family is involved instead of you doing it alone.
About Dementia
Dementia is one of the more common conditions exhibited by elderly individuals, which is associated with diminishing amount of independence and inability to protect one's safety at home. There is a wide range of activities that it can affect that includes the most basic ones such as self-care, bathing, hygienic procedures, administering medications, meal preparation, lack of coordination, poor awareness of hazards in the environment, reduced communication skills, and so much more. These problems can either come in subtle or obvious forms, but nonetheless requires constant attention and immediate action.
Consulting a professional in the case of dementia is extremely important since some cases can potentially dangerous to the individual as to require proper medication.
Functional Limitations in Elderly
As soon as cases such as dementia begins to be exhibited by an aging individual, the functional limitations that are present in elderly persons require much attention to be geared towards taking care of them. This means that you need to keep a close eye on all of their daily activities, from the most basic to complex ones. This is to ensure that not only are their needs met, but also for their safety.
Hence, some people who are caring for elderly at home install safety adaptations in their home for the limited functions of these individuals. Thus, they still attain a certain level of independence without necessarily risking their safety.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Options For Caring For The Elderly
Caring for elderly involves lot of work and continued assessment of the needs of an aging person. But with the vast options available in terms of elderly care, choosing the best option is a lot trickier than you might have anticipated. Below are some of your best choices and assessment for each option.
Nursing Home
This particular elderly care facility provides services from skilled nurses who are trained to provide quality medical care for elderly individuals who need close medical attention. It can either be associated with a hospital or serve as a standalone facility.
Pro's:
• Nursing homes are staffed with professional health and nursing care providers willing to provide assistance and service 24 hours a day.
• They can meet other seniors and create a sense of community.
• It is highly regulated by law to ensure the safety and well-being of all nursing care elder participants.
Con's:
• Handing over the caring duties of your elderly parents to a nursing home can be quite expensive.
• For elderly individuals who are suffering from illnesses that result to them becoming bed-ridden, the inability to interact with other adult participants and being away from family can produce a feeling of isolation.
• Elderly participants are required to adapt to the new living conditions structured within the facility.
Sheltered Accommodations
This is similar to senior housing wherein aside from shelter, health and personal care services are also provided. It has a more independent living structure than most nursing homes, which is why most families of elderly patients opt for this one.
Pro's:
• Living arrangements are designed specifically to suit the needs of an elder.
• There is someone to keep an eye on them at all times.
• Sense of community
Con's:
• You still have to take care of the shopping and meal preparation for your elderly loved one.
• Warden are not solely responsible for the care and supervision of the participants.
Adult Day Care Center
This particular facility is non-residential as opposed to the ones listed above. Instead, it only allows companionship and elderly care during the day, when most of the elderly individual's family members are away from home either for work or school. Senior caregivers provide social or health services for participants and costs are comparably cheaper than other facilities since services are limited.
Pro's:
• Staffs are trained nurses or caregivers.
• You can still attend to your day job while you are ensured of the day care for your elderly parents.
• Several options for services, whether social, health, or therapeutic, according to the needs of the elder.
Con's:
• Elderly individuals might feel neglected and abandoned whenever left off by family members at the center each day.
• Some adult day care centers do not provide individualized treatment for each elderly participant.
In-Home Care
This option provides medical care right at the home of the elder. This is one of the more common options that families caring for elderly are choosing because it allows them to closely monitor the condition of the elderly loved one.
Pro's:
• You are assured that only quality service and care are provided for your aging parents.
• It provides an opportunity to nurture your relationship with family member and the elderly loved one.
Con's:
• It entails a lot of work, especially for the elderly care provider.
• It often results to the caregiver suffering from illnesses or emotional struggles due to the immense responsibility involved with elderly care at home.
• It is a financial burden given the costs needed to fund all the expenses involved in taking care of elderly at home.
Nursing Home
This particular elderly care facility provides services from skilled nurses who are trained to provide quality medical care for elderly individuals who need close medical attention. It can either be associated with a hospital or serve as a standalone facility.
Pro's:
• Nursing homes are staffed with professional health and nursing care providers willing to provide assistance and service 24 hours a day.
• They can meet other seniors and create a sense of community.
• It is highly regulated by law to ensure the safety and well-being of all nursing care elder participants.
Con's:
• Handing over the caring duties of your elderly parents to a nursing home can be quite expensive.
• For elderly individuals who are suffering from illnesses that result to them becoming bed-ridden, the inability to interact with other adult participants and being away from family can produce a feeling of isolation.
• Elderly participants are required to adapt to the new living conditions structured within the facility.
Sheltered Accommodations
This is similar to senior housing wherein aside from shelter, health and personal care services are also provided. It has a more independent living structure than most nursing homes, which is why most families of elderly patients opt for this one.
Pro's:
• Living arrangements are designed specifically to suit the needs of an elder.
• There is someone to keep an eye on them at all times.
• Sense of community
Con's:
• You still have to take care of the shopping and meal preparation for your elderly loved one.
• Warden are not solely responsible for the care and supervision of the participants.
Adult Day Care Center
This particular facility is non-residential as opposed to the ones listed above. Instead, it only allows companionship and elderly care during the day, when most of the elderly individual's family members are away from home either for work or school. Senior caregivers provide social or health services for participants and costs are comparably cheaper than other facilities since services are limited.
Pro's:
• Staffs are trained nurses or caregivers.
• You can still attend to your day job while you are ensured of the day care for your elderly parents.
• Several options for services, whether social, health, or therapeutic, according to the needs of the elder.
Con's:
• Elderly individuals might feel neglected and abandoned whenever left off by family members at the center each day.
• Some adult day care centers do not provide individualized treatment for each elderly participant.
In-Home Care
This option provides medical care right at the home of the elder. This is one of the more common options that families caring for elderly are choosing because it allows them to closely monitor the condition of the elderly loved one.
Pro's:
• You are assured that only quality service and care are provided for your aging parents.
• It provides an opportunity to nurture your relationship with family member and the elderly loved one.
Con's:
• It entails a lot of work, especially for the elderly care provider.
• It often results to the caregiver suffering from illnesses or emotional struggles due to the immense responsibility involved with elderly care at home.
• It is a financial burden given the costs needed to fund all the expenses involved in taking care of elderly at home.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Caring For The Elderly-A Caregiver's Survival Guide
Those in charge with caring for an elderly parent or relative will go through physical and emotional hurdles involved with this difficult task. However, with proper knowledge of your choices and proper assessment of the situation and resources available to you, then you should not find it
Surviving Elderly Care
One of the best ways to cope with and survive the challenges of elderly care is to understand their situation. Put yourself in the elder's shoes and try to understand how they feel about their given situation. You might be puzzled by any untoward behavior exhibited by an elderly person towards you, so you start to assess where that behavior is coming from. When members of the family reach a certain stage in their relationship with one another, trying to understand the emotional, mental, and spiritual changes in the relationship, if ever.
Surviving care for the elders in the family involves not only adapting to the physiological changes in their lives to better assess their needs. However, this need for attention is doubled by the fact that they have certain medical conditions that prevent them from fulfilling activities they normally do.
Coping With Depression
When your parents or any elderly family members require care at home, regular citizens and families are transformed into professional senior care institutions. With this type of responsibility, an individual is expected to provided care for 24 hours non-stop, especially for those with special conditions that need closer attention. Due to the immense challenge involved, some people could be so stressed out over the demands of elderly care that they end up feeling depressed.
Needless to say, caring for elderly is a major threat to the emotional and physical stability of an individual assigned for health care, especially with lack of proper health care knowledge. The source of stress comes from the demand that has to be met with her responsibility in caring for the elder and the inability to fulfill his or her own personal activities. This deprivation could indeed affect one immensely, which is why constant support from every member of the family is extremely important. If you're the one dealing from the stress of having full responsibility for taking care of your aging parent, then try enlisting the help of your siblings to have their share of the workload. If you are the only child, then hiring professional care should help you get out of this stressful and depressing situation.
Coping With Costs and Financial Demands
Let's face it, caring for an elder could be quite a financial challenge given the many needs that have to be met – from meal preparations, to medications, to hiring a professional senior care, and so much more. Here are suggested tips to lower the cost and make caring for your elderly parents more financially manageable:
• Come up with a plan on how you can reduce costs, whether it would be more practical to do home-care or join them in a nursing accommodation for professional elder care. Before deciding, you need to speak with your elderly parent to ensure that they agree with the decision.
• Seek contribution from every member of the family. This will help ensure that all resources for care are provided without being such a financial burden on a single person.
• In terms of medication, try purchasing generic medication wherein you can save a few. Also, look for senior discounts, which is beneficial when you are purchasing them in bulk.
• Take care of your body. The least that you'd like to happen is become ill yourself and add to the already increasing expenses.
Seeking Outside Help
A recent survey reveals that most American families do not pay for senior care services. Instead, they attend to caring for their elderly loved ones themselves at home wherein they must also juggle it with work and other family commitments. With so many things to attend to, it can be really difficult to provide the quality care and service as you would have wished for your elder family members that adds up to the pressure.
However, what every family must be aware of is that there are ways to get help. There are several adult caregivers out there that handle the services and care for your elders to reduce the burden on your part. Your choices include hiring a professional senior care at home or have your elderly loved ones stay in a sheltered accommodation with senior care professionals.
Surviving Elderly Care
One of the best ways to cope with and survive the challenges of elderly care is to understand their situation. Put yourself in the elder's shoes and try to understand how they feel about their given situation. You might be puzzled by any untoward behavior exhibited by an elderly person towards you, so you start to assess where that behavior is coming from. When members of the family reach a certain stage in their relationship with one another, trying to understand the emotional, mental, and spiritual changes in the relationship, if ever.
Surviving care for the elders in the family involves not only adapting to the physiological changes in their lives to better assess their needs. However, this need for attention is doubled by the fact that they have certain medical conditions that prevent them from fulfilling activities they normally do.
Coping With Depression
When your parents or any elderly family members require care at home, regular citizens and families are transformed into professional senior care institutions. With this type of responsibility, an individual is expected to provided care for 24 hours non-stop, especially for those with special conditions that need closer attention. Due to the immense challenge involved, some people could be so stressed out over the demands of elderly care that they end up feeling depressed.
Needless to say, caring for elderly is a major threat to the emotional and physical stability of an individual assigned for health care, especially with lack of proper health care knowledge. The source of stress comes from the demand that has to be met with her responsibility in caring for the elder and the inability to fulfill his or her own personal activities. This deprivation could indeed affect one immensely, which is why constant support from every member of the family is extremely important. If you're the one dealing from the stress of having full responsibility for taking care of your aging parent, then try enlisting the help of your siblings to have their share of the workload. If you are the only child, then hiring professional care should help you get out of this stressful and depressing situation.
Coping With Costs and Financial Demands
Let's face it, caring for an elder could be quite a financial challenge given the many needs that have to be met – from meal preparations, to medications, to hiring a professional senior care, and so much more. Here are suggested tips to lower the cost and make caring for your elderly parents more financially manageable:
• Come up with a plan on how you can reduce costs, whether it would be more practical to do home-care or join them in a nursing accommodation for professional elder care. Before deciding, you need to speak with your elderly parent to ensure that they agree with the decision.
• Seek contribution from every member of the family. This will help ensure that all resources for care are provided without being such a financial burden on a single person.
• In terms of medication, try purchasing generic medication wherein you can save a few. Also, look for senior discounts, which is beneficial when you are purchasing them in bulk.
• Take care of your body. The least that you'd like to happen is become ill yourself and add to the already increasing expenses.
Seeking Outside Help
A recent survey reveals that most American families do not pay for senior care services. Instead, they attend to caring for their elderly loved ones themselves at home wherein they must also juggle it with work and other family commitments. With so many things to attend to, it can be really difficult to provide the quality care and service as you would have wished for your elder family members that adds up to the pressure.
However, what every family must be aware of is that there are ways to get help. There are several adult caregivers out there that handle the services and care for your elders to reduce the burden on your part. Your choices include hiring a professional senior care at home or have your elderly loved ones stay in a sheltered accommodation with senior care professionals.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Safety Issues Involving With Caring For The Elderly
Opting for elderly care at home entails various safety considerations on your part to ensure that you are not posing any threat to their health and safety. Due to the lack of coordination and reduced sensitivity to their environment, elderly individuals also lack the capacity to assess the features on their environment on whether it poses hazard on them. Hence, the responsibility lies mainly on the caregiver to constantly keep an eye on them.
About Safety Issues
When talking about safety issues involved in elderly care, it does not refer to the incapacity or inefficiency on the part of the elderly care provider. Instead, it focuses on the reduced capacity of aging individuals to performing daily chores or activities independent of any help. Therefore, providing assistance on whatever task an elderly individual needs to accomplish is extremely important not just to ensure that the task is accomplished but that they do it without harming themselves in the process.
Aside from the safety features within your house, you also need to consider their physical ability to do such activities. For instance, an aging person could be in danger of falling or sliding off when trying to walk towards an object or through a door. Hence, you need to guide them safely through that. These are just some of the most basic safety concerns involved with elderly care.
Safety on Medications
Most elderly individuals with in-home care take medications for certain health conditions that they are experiencing. Therefore, medication safety is another major concern when it comes to elderly home health care. Here are some tips to avoid complication involved with medications that an aging person must take during home care:
• Verify with your doctor when taking vitamins or other supplements along with other medications that the doctor has issued for your elder parents. This will help avoid possible complications.
• Take the medication as prescribed by your doctor to get maximum results. If possible, avoid missing doses.
• If you cannot afford a particular medication, be truthful to your doctor. They can suggest generic brands that will help produce the same results with less the financial burden.
Keeping Your Home Safe
Most elderly individuals insist to obtain the same level of freedom and mobility that they are used to. Therefore, when this case happens to your parents during home care, you need to assess the level of safety within your home. Be open and flexible in your approach such that you do not cause any real threat to the elderly individual's safety within the house.
One important thing you need to establish if you want to ensure their safety is your firmness in your decision when it comes to designing the safety features of the house. If you feel that you need to change the design of the stairs or re-arrange tables inside the house, then do it firmly. Place rugs in strategic places that will help avoid the possibility of elder persons slipping from them. Provide switch to lights in accessible spots so that elderly people can easily turn them on when entering a dim room. The shower area or toilet is another important area of the house that must be considered closely when it comes to coming up with safety designs. Accidents often happen in the shower room especially when elderly individuals go there unassisted.
Transportation Safety
Transportation is another concern regarding safety for elderly care. Most aging individuals are incapable of walking unassisted, or without using any walking or transporting devices. When your elderly parents go outside the house, you need to have proper transportation devices for them. Several types of wheelchairs or walkers are available in the market that cater to the transportation needs of elderly individuals, whether they are totally incapable of walking or can walk but needs some form of assistance.
Properly choosing the device to use not only provides utmost convenience for the elderly person but also avoid slipping or falling off.
About Safety Issues
When talking about safety issues involved in elderly care, it does not refer to the incapacity or inefficiency on the part of the elderly care provider. Instead, it focuses on the reduced capacity of aging individuals to performing daily chores or activities independent of any help. Therefore, providing assistance on whatever task an elderly individual needs to accomplish is extremely important not just to ensure that the task is accomplished but that they do it without harming themselves in the process.
Aside from the safety features within your house, you also need to consider their physical ability to do such activities. For instance, an aging person could be in danger of falling or sliding off when trying to walk towards an object or through a door. Hence, you need to guide them safely through that. These are just some of the most basic safety concerns involved with elderly care.
Safety on Medications
Most elderly individuals with in-home care take medications for certain health conditions that they are experiencing. Therefore, medication safety is another major concern when it comes to elderly home health care. Here are some tips to avoid complication involved with medications that an aging person must take during home care:
• Verify with your doctor when taking vitamins or other supplements along with other medications that the doctor has issued for your elder parents. This will help avoid possible complications.
• Take the medication as prescribed by your doctor to get maximum results. If possible, avoid missing doses.
• If you cannot afford a particular medication, be truthful to your doctor. They can suggest generic brands that will help produce the same results with less the financial burden.
Keeping Your Home Safe
Most elderly individuals insist to obtain the same level of freedom and mobility that they are used to. Therefore, when this case happens to your parents during home care, you need to assess the level of safety within your home. Be open and flexible in your approach such that you do not cause any real threat to the elderly individual's safety within the house.
One important thing you need to establish if you want to ensure their safety is your firmness in your decision when it comes to designing the safety features of the house. If you feel that you need to change the design of the stairs or re-arrange tables inside the house, then do it firmly. Place rugs in strategic places that will help avoid the possibility of elder persons slipping from them. Provide switch to lights in accessible spots so that elderly people can easily turn them on when entering a dim room. The shower area or toilet is another important area of the house that must be considered closely when it comes to coming up with safety designs. Accidents often happen in the shower room especially when elderly individuals go there unassisted.
Transportation Safety
Transportation is another concern regarding safety for elderly care. Most aging individuals are incapable of walking unassisted, or without using any walking or transporting devices. When your elderly parents go outside the house, you need to have proper transportation devices for them. Several types of wheelchairs or walkers are available in the market that cater to the transportation needs of elderly individuals, whether they are totally incapable of walking or can walk but needs some form of assistance.
Properly choosing the device to use not only provides utmost convenience for the elderly person but also avoid slipping or falling off.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Caring For The Elderly-Practical Tips
Effective caregiving only means the ability to provide for the elder's needs and improving their lives without exactly ruining yours. Indeed, some people can become entirely dedicated into providing for the needs of the elders that they can tend to ignore their own set of needs.
Take note of the following tips to perform a better job at care giving for the elders.
Time and Attention
An important consideration that you need to make and have to make known to the elder you are caring for is that your services are not available for them anytime and wherever they want. Your first business would then involve creating reasonable limits as to when and how you provide service for them. It is important to set your limitations as this too will affect how they establish their demands.
They cannot expect you to provide the care and service for them whenever they want. Learn how to deal with this minor demands. When you fail to give in to them, they will eventually stop. However, there is still the tendency to give in if they continue to push harder in their demands. Find alternatives in responding to such demands, especially if you are caring for your elderly parents and you are tempted to cave in to them.
Practice how you can balance being able to attend to their essential needs and taking care of your personal businesses.
Coping With Unreasonable Demands
At some point while caring for your elderly parents, they can have unreasonable demands. Instead of beating yourself up trying to meet those demands, look at the more important needs that you can provide for them. The worse that could happen if you try to go out of your way trying to meet those demands is that they'd eventually demand some more to the extent that your inability to meet those demands disappoint both you and them.
Like with providing your time to serve and care for them, you also have to set limitations when it comes to the kind of service you will provide for them. It does not mean that you become nonchalant to their needs, but you need to recognize which ones are essential and those that are not.
You can engage them in various activities to spend the best of their remaining years together. There are various agency or non-profit groups dedicated to providing activities and services for the aged that you cannot do on your own. Here, you can have professionals in caregiving willing to extend out any form of help so you can improve ways in which you can provide for you
Dealing With Elder's Complaints
In relation to creating your boundaries or limits, try to infuse empathy and sympathy to the elders. Immerse yourself in their position and understand why they are making such demands. When they make insulting or unfriendly remarks to you about what you did or failed to do for them, learn how to resolve that within yourself. Stay as positive as possible and redirect your attention to avoid being affected by such remarks. If you fail to overcome such negative thoughts, talk to them about it. Let them know how you felt about their reaction and your genuine concern to provide for their needs and demands. At their condition, talking to them straight would be the best way to cope with the difficulties and challenges of trying to meet their demands.
Dealing With Behavior Towards Carer
When people are aging, they tend to exhibit extreme behavior that could cause people lacking in patience to erupt quickly. Most elder individuals exhibit dementia, which results in unusual behavior. When you notice that an elder you are caring for shows behaviors that are unusual to them, then it is best to seek for professional help. This will benefit both you and your elderly loved ones as you become less frustrated and they get the immediate help they need.
When it comes to extreme behaviors, you can correct or prevent them from happening again by making it known to the elder. Never respond by using foul language yourself or raising your level of voice. If you cannot hold your temper, walk away and let your mind relax for a while until you are ready to settle the matter with a clear mind.
Take note of the following tips to perform a better job at care giving for the elders.
Time and Attention
An important consideration that you need to make and have to make known to the elder you are caring for is that your services are not available for them anytime and wherever they want. Your first business would then involve creating reasonable limits as to when and how you provide service for them. It is important to set your limitations as this too will affect how they establish their demands.
They cannot expect you to provide the care and service for them whenever they want. Learn how to deal with this minor demands. When you fail to give in to them, they will eventually stop. However, there is still the tendency to give in if they continue to push harder in their demands. Find alternatives in responding to such demands, especially if you are caring for your elderly parents and you are tempted to cave in to them.
Practice how you can balance being able to attend to their essential needs and taking care of your personal businesses.
Coping With Unreasonable Demands
At some point while caring for your elderly parents, they can have unreasonable demands. Instead of beating yourself up trying to meet those demands, look at the more important needs that you can provide for them. The worse that could happen if you try to go out of your way trying to meet those demands is that they'd eventually demand some more to the extent that your inability to meet those demands disappoint both you and them.
Like with providing your time to serve and care for them, you also have to set limitations when it comes to the kind of service you will provide for them. It does not mean that you become nonchalant to their needs, but you need to recognize which ones are essential and those that are not.
You can engage them in various activities to spend the best of their remaining years together. There are various agency or non-profit groups dedicated to providing activities and services for the aged that you cannot do on your own. Here, you can have professionals in caregiving willing to extend out any form of help so you can improve ways in which you can provide for you
Dealing With Elder's Complaints
In relation to creating your boundaries or limits, try to infuse empathy and sympathy to the elders. Immerse yourself in their position and understand why they are making such demands. When they make insulting or unfriendly remarks to you about what you did or failed to do for them, learn how to resolve that within yourself. Stay as positive as possible and redirect your attention to avoid being affected by such remarks. If you fail to overcome such negative thoughts, talk to them about it. Let them know how you felt about their reaction and your genuine concern to provide for their needs and demands. At their condition, talking to them straight would be the best way to cope with the difficulties and challenges of trying to meet their demands.
Dealing With Behavior Towards Carer
When people are aging, they tend to exhibit extreme behavior that could cause people lacking in patience to erupt quickly. Most elder individuals exhibit dementia, which results in unusual behavior. When you notice that an elder you are caring for shows behaviors that are unusual to them, then it is best to seek for professional help. This will benefit both you and your elderly loved ones as you become less frustrated and they get the immediate help they need.
When it comes to extreme behaviors, you can correct or prevent them from happening again by making it known to the elder. Never respond by using foul language yourself or raising your level of voice. If you cannot hold your temper, walk away and let your mind relax for a while until you are ready to settle the matter with a clear mind.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Overcoming Communication Barriers With Elderly Care
Lack of proper communication is one of the biggest hurdles in elderly care. It can lead to frustration in both the elder person and their caregiver. There are several reasons why communication become less effective with older people, but most of them are due to their reduced hearing capacity or inability to express their thoughts clearly. Since communication involves a clear exchange of information involving two parties, a gap exists when one of either parties fail to function.
Reduced communication skills are one of the results of aging, which is something that is beyond your control. However, your ability to identify the source of the problem will consequently determine the steps you need to take in order to resolve them. Solutions can be as simple as finding alternative means to communicate outside of verbal signals, or as intricate as medical treatment.
Cause of Communication Problems
There are various reasons why aging people lose their ability to communicate properly. Here are some of the most common reasons for them:
• Failing hearing – When people age, they undergo anatomical changes. Reduced hearing capacity is a natural effect involved with the natural aging process. When an elder lacks proper hearing capacity, they do not recognize when someone is talking nor understand clearly the information being relayed. There are hearing aids available nowadays to produce sharper sense of hearing for older people.
• Vision problems or failing eyesight – Another natural effect of again is failing eyesight. Therefore, older person have difficulty reading written communication. The effects of a failing eyesight can be reduced though using alternative communication devices such as eyeglasses.
• Effect of medications – This cause for communication problems is reversible. Taking medicines often produce adverse effects on the elders such that they become easily fatigued or confused. Therefore, they find it difficult to understand communicative patterns.
• Structural or neurological damage – This condition is often caused by other diseases such as brain lesions, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or strokes. Most of these conditions produce permanent results, there are a few coping mechanisms and strategies provided for patient so that they are able to communicate effectively.
Dealing with Proper Communication
If you are faced with communication problems involved in caring for the elderly, then it is important to figure out the proper method of dealing with such communication lapses. Below are a few principles you can apply:
• Understand the two-way process of communication. An effective communication involves a clear exchange of information between the speaker and hearer, therefore both have to cooperate in seeing results. It is both individual's responsibility, not just one.
• Make some communication adjustments. When you notice that problems exist or that you are not communicating properly, take action. Adjust your communication pattern by first identifying where the source of problem is.
Non-Verbal Communication and Aids
Once you have determined the source of the communication problem, you can minimize their effects by enlisting the help of some devices and aids designed specifically to cater to better communication. Here are a few you can try if you're having problems communicating when caring for an elderly:
• Eyeglasses and hearing aids: Is recommended for elders who are suffering from failing hearing and eyesight.
• Using writings or pictures instead of spoken communication: Doing this will help prevent create frustration on both parties, since the elderly person will be able to comprehend what you are trying to communicate without having to repeat yourself.
When To Get Help?
If you have done all the procedures indicated above and you are still having communication problems with elderly care, then it might be time to seek professional help. Asking for professional help must be done during the following circumstances:
• When an elderly person have difficulty speaking, understanding, or communicating as a whole.
• When an elderly person exhibits unusual sound of voice that is neither caused by cold nor flu.
• When their speech becomes incomprehensible.
• When they fail to respond clearly.
Reduced communication skills are one of the results of aging, which is something that is beyond your control. However, your ability to identify the source of the problem will consequently determine the steps you need to take in order to resolve them. Solutions can be as simple as finding alternative means to communicate outside of verbal signals, or as intricate as medical treatment.
Cause of Communication Problems
There are various reasons why aging people lose their ability to communicate properly. Here are some of the most common reasons for them:
• Failing hearing – When people age, they undergo anatomical changes. Reduced hearing capacity is a natural effect involved with the natural aging process. When an elder lacks proper hearing capacity, they do not recognize when someone is talking nor understand clearly the information being relayed. There are hearing aids available nowadays to produce sharper sense of hearing for older people.
• Vision problems or failing eyesight – Another natural effect of again is failing eyesight. Therefore, older person have difficulty reading written communication. The effects of a failing eyesight can be reduced though using alternative communication devices such as eyeglasses.
• Effect of medications – This cause for communication problems is reversible. Taking medicines often produce adverse effects on the elders such that they become easily fatigued or confused. Therefore, they find it difficult to understand communicative patterns.
• Structural or neurological damage – This condition is often caused by other diseases such as brain lesions, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, or strokes. Most of these conditions produce permanent results, there are a few coping mechanisms and strategies provided for patient so that they are able to communicate effectively.
Dealing with Proper Communication
If you are faced with communication problems involved in caring for the elderly, then it is important to figure out the proper method of dealing with such communication lapses. Below are a few principles you can apply:
• Understand the two-way process of communication. An effective communication involves a clear exchange of information between the speaker and hearer, therefore both have to cooperate in seeing results. It is both individual's responsibility, not just one.
• Make some communication adjustments. When you notice that problems exist or that you are not communicating properly, take action. Adjust your communication pattern by first identifying where the source of problem is.
Non-Verbal Communication and Aids
Once you have determined the source of the communication problem, you can minimize their effects by enlisting the help of some devices and aids designed specifically to cater to better communication. Here are a few you can try if you're having problems communicating when caring for an elderly:
• Eyeglasses and hearing aids: Is recommended for elders who are suffering from failing hearing and eyesight.
• Using writings or pictures instead of spoken communication: Doing this will help prevent create frustration on both parties, since the elderly person will be able to comprehend what you are trying to communicate without having to repeat yourself.
When To Get Help?
If you have done all the procedures indicated above and you are still having communication problems with elderly care, then it might be time to seek professional help. Asking for professional help must be done during the following circumstances:
• When an elderly person have difficulty speaking, understanding, or communicating as a whole.
• When an elderly person exhibits unusual sound of voice that is neither caused by cold nor flu.
• When their speech becomes incomprehensible.
• When they fail to respond clearly.
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